“Consider it done.”
When she hung up, she sat back and stared out the window of her very tiny apartment, stunned that she hadn’t been kicked out the door. She stared at the boxes in her apartment, already half packed. She’d been mentally prepared, set in her mind that she was going to head back to Oklahoma to be near her mother, her roots.
Where memories of her dad were.
Now she had to change her focus.
Why had she agreed to do this? This wasn’t what she wanted to do anymore.
Was it?
She sat on the bed.
Follow your dreams, Haven.
She still heard his voice so clearly in her head. Maybe he was trying to tell her something. She didn’t know if this was her dream anymore, but she’d agreed to take this job.
With Trevor Shay, of all people. She hadn’t seen Trevor since her dad’s funeral. She wondered how he’d react knowing it was her doing this assignment.
He’d probably ignore her, just like he had in college.
No, wait. He’d specifically asked for her. He’d agreed to the interviews, so this time, she wouldn’t allow him to pretend she didn’t exist.
She got up and went to her closet to grab her suitcase.
Her and Trevor Shay. God, she’d had such a crush on him in college, back when she was tutoring him. All those nights they’d spent shoulder to shoulder, when she’d done her best to try and convince him to focus on his books when all she’d really wanted was for him to notice her as a woman.
He’d been more interested in trying to finagle a way to get her to do his homework.
Now she was going to be in the driver’s seat.
She stared out over the boxes, debating whether to unpack them.
She’d leave them, see how this assignment went. If it didn’t work out, if it didn’t light the fire under her after a few days, she’d call Chandler and tell him she was out.
But she’d give it a try. For her dad.
HOPE IGNITES
LOGAN MCCORMACK HAD TO HAVE BEEN DRUNK OR out of his goddamned mind to have agreed to let a movie crew film on his ranch.
Why he thought it had been a good idea was beyond him. But Martha, the ranch cook and house manager, was starstruck, and when she’d heard who the lead actress was—some name Logan had already forgotten, alongside some freakin’ heartthrob-of-the-month as her costar, Martha gone all melty and told him it would be good for business.
Plus, the production company had offered a buttload of cash, and he wasn’t the type to turn down extra money. Since they’d be filming on the east side of the property, which was mostly hills and grassland and nowhere near their cattle operation, they’d be out of the way. At the time it had seemed like a good idea.
They’d come in a week ago, a convoy of semis and trailers and black SUVs. Logan had been working the fence property and had seen them driving in. Hell, it had looked like some Hollywood parade. The whole town had shown up at the gates to the ranch to witness it. He’d gotten all the gossip when Martha had served up dinner. She’d talked it up nonstop, her voice more animated than he’d heard in a long time.
“I’m pretty sure Desiree Jenkins and Colt Stevens are on our property as we speak,” Martha had said as she’d put the salad on the table. “Are you going to go check it out, Logan?”
“Why would I want to do that?” he’d asked, way more interested in eating than he was in the goings-on at the east property.
“You rented them the land. It’s your responsibility to make sure they’re settled in.”
He’d said no, and Martha had argued. And when Martha argued about something, it was best you just do whatever she wanted, because she wasn’t the type to let a topic die.
“I’ll go see about it in a few days.” That few days had turned into a week, and Martha had been nearly apoplectic that he hadn’t checked it out yet. Which could affect his dinner, since Martha in a snit meant she could take to her room with some kind of mystery ailment and he’d end up eating baloney sandwiches instead of a hot meal.